Study of flow and pressure field in microchannels with various cross-section areas

Abstract

In this work a micro-flow sensor integrated in the bottom surface of a rectangular microchannel is used in order to evaluate simultaneously both the flow velocity and the pressure in various micro-flow conditions. In this way direct flow rate measurement is achieved while real-time monitoring of the corresponding flow and pressure values are obtained. The effect of the microchannel dimensions in the flow determination is also studied. An almost linear relation of Delta P/L with respect to Re was extracted, which indicates a laminar flow behavior. The friction factor, corresponding to the specific microchannel dimensions was calculated together with the f.Re value.